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All I can say is that it was fabulous. Too much work to catch up on after being gone 2 weeks, so this won't be as detailed as I'd like it to be.. please email me with any questions! Here's a short recap... Stayed at Gallows on STJ during the first part - it was beautiful, rooms were great (we had 7 rooms in all of our party, some were nicer than others, but overall they had everything we needed) - and the wedding was amazing. We had it at the lower Gazebo on the point at sunset on the 8th - beautiful. I can't say enough good things about our wedding planner Mary Bartolucci of Island Style weddings. She made it all come together and everything was PERFECT. Went off without a hitch and all of our 30 guests were happy. I highly recommend her if you plan to get married there, she will take care of everything. The photographer she recommended - Blue Glass Photography - was amazing. Don't have the pics back yet, but we saw a little preview and they were amazing.. if anyone wants to check them out, let me know and I'll send you some when I get them. The caterer was also amazing... Mat from St. John Catering. I heard from several locals that he is the best on the island and he definitely proved that with us. Lobster salad was incredible!! Music was perfect too - Mark Wallace did the ceremony and reception and it was exactly what we wanted. And Hello to any message board members who hanging out at the pool or surrounding area while we were taking pics... we had quite a few congratulations from everyone, and I'm sure they got quite a show.
We did the Limnos trip to the Baths which was great, as always. The crew was tons of fun especially Akiem.. though I probably shouldn't mention this, my now husband persuaded him to shotgun several beers, and before we knew it 7 or 8 other guys joined and and soon the entire boat was forming a congo line and swinging from the stairs... ah memories. Needless to say, it was a great time.
The guys also took a day trip with Born to Rhumb. Excellent reviews there as well. Captain Kevin was great, and the first mate - can't remember her name - was a sport to put up with what she did. Though I wasn't there, I can only a imagine...
Banana Deck hosted our rehearsal dinner, which was kind of last minute.. but they did a great job at putting together a menu very quickly, and the swordfish was fantastic. Manager Doug was a pleasure to work with.
Woodys was closed a few nights while we were there for a certain someones wedding, so we didn't get to hang out there as much as we usually do, but the Beach Bar was fun. I hate to say this, and isn't always the case when we go there, but the bartenders tend to be a little stand offish till you get to know them. But after we ran up a few hundred dollar tabs, all was good.
Had some guests stay at the Cottage at Battery Hill, run through Suite St John. The view up there is incredible and the room was tiny, but nice. Fine for 2 people. They were worried that there'd be lots of noise from the pool area, but no one besides them even got in it while they were there.
Rented a boat from Ocean Runner in Cruz Bay one day, and though pricey, well worth being able to go where ever you want. It was a fun day.
Everything else on STJ was wonderful, as always, but I've noticed a lot more construction going on... makes me a little sad to see it. Seems like things are changing a bit, but hopefully STJ will keep that laid back charm. The CA ferry from STJ was back on track when we were there, running on time. And our resident cab driver Mr. Bazille (spell?) took care of all of our commuting upon arrival and departure - he's great, we always go back to him. One of our guests was ill, and he even took them by the pharmacy and worked with the pharmacist to get her meds very quickly, great guy.
We were on JVD at Sandcastles for our honeymoon. Though I won't go into too much detail b/c this is a USVI board, it was absolutely amazing. Met lots of great people, and made friends with several day trip and ocean runner captains who we saw several times. Hung out all over the BVI actually, partied one night on the Willy T, so much fun. Lots of no-see-ums though. I didn't get a single bite on STJ, but I was eaten alive on JVD.
Trying to get back to reality now, just got back Sunday night, but am already looking at tix to come back for my husbands 30th bday in Feb! It's always said to leave, but just gives us more of chance to look forward to next time.
Anyway, sorry to be so brief, but if anyone has questions on any specific just let me know!
I would like to hear about your stay at JVD....alot of people go on day trips there, but rarely do we get any information on actually the island itself...what you did...where you ate...that kind of thing.
Glad you had a great time and congrats on your marriage.
Well.. JVD is a tiny island. There's not a ton of things to do and places to eat, but it is absolutely beautiful. There's only a handful of places to stay and Sandcastles is by far the best. They offer daily breakfast, lunch and dinner and the food is fabulous. Dinner is done in their open air dining room by candlelight and it only seats 30. They post their dinner menu in the bar every morning and you must put in your order by 4pm. Lots of people sail the BVI's and that is mostly who you run into on the island.. so you really do meet a lot of interesting people from all over. Soggy Dollar is right next to Sandcastles - same place really, and then on down the beach on that same side is the White Bay superette where you can pick up a few groceries, Jewels Snack shack - great food, Gertruides - didn't go there but I think it's a gift shop and bar, Seddys One Love - a super cool place... Seddy does the most amazing card and magic tricks! He and Raquel have the cu tests little kids.. I may have missed a few on that side, but Soggy Dollar is by far the most popular. On the other side of the bay (you can get there via steps and a path that go over the rocks) is Ivans which is fabulous, we had the Thursday night bbq, so yummy. His bar is on the honor system, which means you pour and pay for your own drinks. He also has camp grounds back there. That's all in White Bay.. the prettiest part of the island. The next harbour over is Great Harbour, where you check in at Customs. There's more stuff over there.. restaurants like Ali Babba, Corsairs - good pizza, JVD scuba where you can rent a dinghy or book a day trip, a car rental place, gas station, and of course Foxys. Foxy isn't around much anymore, he can't sing - or isn't supposed to due to recent throat surgery, but there's a freaky looking model of him playing the guitar where the bands play. We went for Sat night bbq and it was really good. His son played and there was dancing, etc.. really fun. Again, mostly a boating crowd - fun people. Around to the next harbour is Little Harbour.. few restaurants there.. Sidneys Peace and Love, Harris's, and Abes. All have lobster and you have to make reservations.. but well worth it, it's delicious. If you drive on over you'll run into Foxy's Taboo which Foxy's daughter opened. Good food, went there for lunch twice.. nice dock out front. That's near the bubbly pool which is kind of dead this time of year. Supposed to be good when there North swells b/c it faces the Atlantic. Very pretty though. There's not much on the other side of the island, though we did drive the ridge road and there are some amazing views, very high up. Over all a great little island.. we went around to Norman and Tortola a few days just to see other stuff though. You 'll meet lots of boating people, it's a popular dinner/drinking spot. I found that the locals are a bit more friendly than on STJ or STT especially, everyone knows eachother. It is quite pricey though... dinners run from about $30 pp on up... Lobsters were $30 - $40, and bbq dinners were around $30 as well. Sandcastles ran a bit higher. The only thing cheap is rum!! Hope that helps, let me know if you have more specific questions!
Thanks for all of the information. I enjoyed hearing about JVD too. We'll be taking our first day trip there next month hopefully! It sounds like a great place to maybe stay for a couple of days on our next trip.
Congrats on your marraige! I'm glad you had such a great island time!
Thanks Katie for that information. I'm going to look up Sandcastles.
Congratulations too! What a great place to honeymoon.
So glad everything went well for your wedding and honeymoon! Please remember to post a link to your pictures or your website when they're available, we'd love to see everything! Am I wrong or did you have a website for your wedding?
Ok, I just updated our website with pics. These aren't the "real" wedding photos, but my own personal ones. www.fisherpadgett.com go to photo albums, it's called "trip pics". I'll have more soon...
Katie,
How funny we were at Banana Deck the night of your rehearsal party. I saw your big group up by the bar with the cute tshirts. Congrats to you!! We were sitting below yas on the lower level of the deck.
I thought I'd seen your website before.... you were sweet enough to answer some question for me about having a wedding in STJ because my daughter is thinking about it! I had been looking for your post to say it had all gone wonderfully well. Congratulations and I can't wait to see the pics of the wedding at Gallow's!!! Kathleen
Hi Everyone, My new husband and I just got back from our wedding/honeymoon and I just wanted to tell everyone about my awesome time! We were married by STT Weddings: http://www.sttweddings.com/ and got cake, limo service, free wedding dress rental, photos, champagne and a bouquet for a little over a thousand dollars. I am so elated that we saved so much money and had such a great wedding!!! Congratulations to all others who are getting married or recently got married! Marianne
Sounds as tho you had a wonderful trip and wedding! Congrats to you both!
Thanks for sharing!
Best Wishes to Both of You!
I am a wedding planner in Michigan and would love to look at your pictures. When I go into your website a business comes up, is there where I should be?
Mricco
mricco
i found the samething when I went to the link, but if you look the original post was 7 months ago. Not sure what the deal is.
Hi Everyone, Thanks for the well wishes! Yes, the link: http://www.sttweddings.com/ is of my wedding planners. They said that they would be posting my pictures soon. I will let you know when they are up. For now you can see other couples in their gallery: http://www.sttweddings.com/locations.html I have no relation to the original poster. Marianne
Hi guys - yeah, our wedding website is gone... figured it was time after being married for nearly 7 months! If anyone wants some pics, I can email them. Kinda crazy to check this site and see my post from July up!! Anyway, we are looking forward to being back on STJ in 2 weeks exactly!
